Benefit of DB and Info Gathering Techniques

Benefits of a Database and Information-Gathering Techniques
CIS111
July 27, 2013

I am being interviewed by ACME Global Consulting services as a potential new employee to its growing work force of world-class systems analysts and requirements engineering group. Through a tip, I found out that they will be asking several questions relating to planning for a new database for one of their national restaurant chains. I found out that one of the executives at the restaurant chain only believes in using Microsoft Excel for running reports. For this assignment I will be focusing on 3 main topics. First, I will describe the benefits of using a database management system and how it supports this restaurant chain. Second, I will propose how I would address the issues with flat file systems, such as Excel and Text files, for storing data. Lastly, I will list and describe three tools, techniques, or methodologies for eliciting and documenting requirements related to the development of a new database. So, as you see, you have your plenty of things to get ready for. A Database Management System (DBMS) is the software system that allows users to define, create and maintain a database and provides controlled access to the data provided by your database administrator(s). DBMS is an intermediate layer between programs and the data. Programs access the DBMS, which then accesses the data. There are different types of DBMS ranging from small systems that run on personal computers, corporation window servers, large mainframes, etc. Let’s look at some of the benefits from have a DBMS. 1) Controlling Redundancy: In file system, each application has its own private files, which cannot be shared between multiple applications. This can often lead to considerable redundancy in the stored data, which results in wastage of storage space. By having centralized database most of this can be avoided. 2) Integrity can be enforced: Integrity of data means...

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...Data GatheringTechniques
Data GatheringTechniques
Interview
• Interviews can be conducted in person or
over the telephone.
• Questions should be focused, clear, and
encourage open-ended responses.
• Interviews are mainly qualitative in nature.
Data GatheringTechniques
Advantages of interviews
The main advantages of interviews are:
• they are useful to obtain detailed information about personal
feelings, perceptions and opinions
• they allow more detailed questions to be asked
• they usually achieve a high response rate
• respondents' own words are recorded
• ambiguities can be clarified and incomplete answers followed up
• interviewees are not influenced by others in the group
• some interviewees may be less self-conscious in a one-to-one
situation.
Data GatheringTechniques
Disadvantages of interviews
The main disadvantages of interviews are:
• they can be very time-consuming: setting up,
interviewing, transcribing, analysing,
feedback, reporting
• they can be costly
• different interviewers may understand and
transcribe interviews in different ways.
Data GatheringTechniques
Questionnaires and Surveys
• Responses can be analyzed with quantitative
methods by assigning numerical values to
Likert-type scales.
• Results are generally easier (than qualitative
techniques) to analyze.
• Pre-test/Post-test can be...

...To an extent The Gathering portrays the dark side of human nature. A dark side of a human is the side that tells that human to do evil and bad things. The Gathering is a novel written by Isobelle Carmody. When the main character Nathanial and his mother move to a new town called Cheshunt he realises that something is terribly wrong. He soon finds himself in a group with four other people called the chain, fighting the dark, ancient evil that bruised Cheshunt a long time ago. A long time ago Cheshunt was bruised by an ancient evil which caused bad things to happen there. In Cheshunt, there were people with power over others and their power corrupted them. Mr Karle, a teacher and the leader of the school youth group tried to manipulate people by using their fears against them. Even though The Gathering shows the dark side of humans it also displays the good side of humans.
An ancient evil bruised Cheshunt a long time ago and this caused bad things to happen there. When Nathaniel decided to walk his dog for the first time since he arrived at Cheshunt, he met a security guard who told him about Cheshunt. He said that “some places are made for trouble. Years ago some bad things happened here”. This shows that bad things happened at Cheshunt. An old lady; named Anna, who used to live in Cheshunt for a long time told Nathanial that Cheshunt “was a bad place”. This shows that Cheshunt was a bad place. The girl by the name of Lallie, who...

...The Gathering.
Nathanial Delaney, the main character in The Gathering, is new in the community of Cheshunt. No one else seems to sense the sinister atmosphere in Chesthunt, except Nathanial. With the haunted look in people's eyes and the subdued aura around the school, Nathanial thinks that moving to Cheshunt is ridiculous. Suffering the recent death of his father, he lives with his mother and is finding it difficult to relate to children his own age, and is very mature. Throughout his life he has been moved from town to town, and is tiring of this ruthless string of new starts. "New friends? I never had any old ones. We never stayed anywhere long enough. In fact, my grandmother was the closest thing I had to a best friend. Besides, I couldn't relate to kids my own age "(pg3) Nathanial has always had trouble making new friends, and he feels as if his mother does not understand him. "But I never managed to figure out how you made friends with total strangers. Maybe that was why I did well academically. I had no social life to distract me." (pg16) In the beginning of the book he is angry at the world, and he feels as if everyone is against him. Towards the end, he has made peace with his life, and is relaxed and philosophical, viewing the world as an ally and not an enemy. One night, Nathanial stumbles upon a group of teenagers fighting evil in Cheshunt, referred to throughout the novel as The Chain'
The development of character...

...This starts an important dialog with users that will continue throughout the entire development process.
When interacting with users, I would highlight the point that this investigation is not about a problem that Riordan Manufacturing has, but rather the additional capability that the company would like to have. This would help employees to not focus on desirable new features and enhancements rather than on current system limitations. Instead of focusing on difficulties, I would question users about additional capability they would like to have. Using this approach, I hope to highlight ways to improve the user’s job, get a better understanding of operations, and build better, more positive relationships with users.
INFORMATION-GATHERINGTECHNIQUES
A. Analyze Organization charts.
This would give me a fair understanding of how the department functions and identify individuals I might want to interview, keeping in mind that organization charts show formal reporting relationships but not the informal alignment of a group, which also is important.
B. Conduct Interviews
The primary method of obtaining information during the preliminary investigation is the interview. The interviewing process would consist of these seven steps for each interview:
1. Determine the people to interview.
2. Establish objectives for the interview.
3. Develop interview questions.
4. Prepare for the interview.
5. Conduct the interview.
6. Document the interview....

...struggles to break free of the darkness in Cheshunt.
Nathanial is trying to fight the evil but his mother is stoping him without even knowing(the darkness is taking over her).
Issues
Nathanial struggles to fight the evil with bullys trying to persuade him, in their evil ways, to cross to The gathering(evil gang).
His only friends are the "good" people and he can have no social contact with them so the "Kraken" doesn't defeat them.
Ideas
Nathanial has no social friends to support him
Social
Nathanial uses his social life to benefit the group: Doing an assignment on the history of the town; he talks to old people that witnessed herrific events in cheshunt at his mums work
Cultural
Carmody uses the Australian culure and identity to create a certain theme and feel.
Contexts
Political
In Cheshunt the laws and Rules are biest to the evil as they have taken over the town.
Historical
Carmody creates the sense that "The Kraken" is like Hitler and the town and children are his army of evil.
Intellectual
She creates the illusion that Nathanial makes his own decisions and that he takes on the responsibility of finding out about the previous gangs.
The Gathering by Isobelle Carmody
Allusions
Alludes that "the kraken" is Hitler
Metaphors
Intertexuality
Verbs
Language forms features and structures
Adverbs
Descriptions
Figurative language
Point of view - 1st person...